Filling chute for elevating buckets



Jan. 16, 1951 H. A. WAGNER ET AL FILLING CHUTE FOR ELEVATING BUCKETS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 17, 1946 ATFOENEY Jan. 16, 1951 H. A. WAGNER ETAL FILLING CHUTE FOR ELEVATING BUCKETS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 17, 1946 Patented Jan. 16, 1951 FILLING (EH-UTE. Eon ELEVATINGrBUQKEIS Harold A. Wagner'and Gustave H., Wagner Portland, Greg.

Applic tion-Dec mber 7, ;.fl46,, r lN-. 16l6% 1'. Our present invention relates. to. a. materialhandling, devi e including a. fillingT chute. The invention is of particular, utility in connection .with a conQrete elevating tower for use inlii ne moist. concrete to a higher level so, as. to, perm t the, distribution thereof into. form or. the like.

The. pr sent invention, therefore, compri e a tower having a, bucket or the like, movable verticall thereon, and, a. filling chute or. a, plurali y thereof for loading the. bucket,

The present. invention is. illustrated in a, combina ion includ elf-propell d v hicle having a tower mounted thereon, the tower being pivqtallyt mounted on. the. vehicle, so. as to; occupy a, horizontal position upon the vehicle while travelling, and movable to a. vertical position in its locality of use. Although the-inventionis of par.-

ticular utility in such a combination'it is. t be appreciated that. the present invention could be utilized in permanent or semi-permanent installations including a. tower adaptedv to be mounted upon a platform or other support,

, The principal object of the present invention is. to provide means. whereby a. concrete elevator bucket may be rapidly. loaded. with moist concrete.

Afurther object of the present, invention isto provide a, construction including a. bucket or the like and, filling chutes at, the sides thereof, the filling chutesbeing disposedlaterally oi the edges of the, bucket so as not. to impede the vertical i movement thereof, in combination with filling chute extensions. movable to. positions. overlying the edges of the, bucketv and to positions. laterally of the bucket. so as not. to impede the vertical movement thereof. In connection with. the fore,- going the chute extensions are so constructed and arranged with respectto the. bucket-as to, be automatically movable thereby upon elevation of the bucket, and the combination preferably comprises means automatically to retainthe chutes in laterally disposed relation so as to permit return of the, bucket to loading position, such retaining means being manually releasable and the chutes being thereupon movable to. fillingv position by' the effect of gravity.

The, objects and advantages of, the present. invention will be more readily apparent upon inspection of the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is an end elevation of an automotive vehicle having a tower of the present invention located thereon and; showing a 2; and extensions thereof inloading position, and; a pair of self-propelled concrete conveyor trucks illustrated in dash outline inthe posit-ion assumed for discharge of, moist concrete. or the like into the loading chutes.

Fig. 2,. is a p rtial side, elevation of the pr invention, partl in, section taken substantially from. the line 2- o F Fig, 3. is, a vertical section taken substantially from the, line 3+3,- of Fig. 1;;

Big. 4 is a, horizontal section taken substam tiallv lone, he lin ---4 of Fin, 3,: and. looking, in the direction of. the arrows;

5' s a. rt al ct on taken along, the line 5- 5. of Big, .3, looking, in the. direction of the arrows; and.

Fig. 6; is. a vertical. section taken substantially along the line 66 of E i-gt 3:.

The. present invention comprises; an automotive vehicle, generally indicatedby, thenumeral; 0,.- and ncluding; a cab -lhavi g a Window I92: ther on throughwhich, the driver of; the vehicle may ob,- serve the op r t ns taking; lll'aiqe at, the rear of the; vehicle. Details or; the auto-motive vehicle are n t importan to, h p es n inventie The rear end of the: body. I 3-. of, the veh cle has a pair. of short, verticalro ts. I tentedv thereon, one'at-eaoh corner of the ve e.. The hosts; 15 are braced by diagonal braces Ht running. forwer r t ward, the fron of. the vehic e- A tower, generally indicated by; the numeral; 2G,. is

, pivotally mounted, at. 7. at. he, tops or the upri ht bucket in position to be loaded, the filling chutes p sts ii, the ower b n n vetable a out; the pivots to assume a horizontal p sitilon QnOt sh wn), or. he vertical; p siti n illustrated in ch it. m y e ldbvsuitab e means at.

The: tewer omprises. a a erally spaced pair of H-Wdts :2 and a, lateral Spaced pair of Lebars; 21-3 forming; tourerner pests of a, substantially rec.- tanaul r t Wen. the four posts being. spa ed: and brace by suitable cross; members as illustrated. Between adjacent vertical posts. 22 and 2.3: there is provided; a vertical L.-.shap.ed guiding bar a l at each; side of; the tower inside of the bracingextending; hetweerrposts. 2,2 and 2 31, with one legof each. u de bar extendinginwardly toward the centerof the, tcwen seen more clearlyrin Fig. 3- there, arebracesprovided between; the rear vert calpost 23. but ot; between the iron ver ical posts 22 so that a, th-reeesided column is thus presented.

Preferablythe2 lower ends ofv each opposed pair of posts, 22, and. 2.3 are. spanned by a splash guard pfate, 25 to prevent. the splashing of concretev or the like into the central portion of the tower.

able with the opposite faces of the inwardly extending leg of the vertical bar 24, thereby providing means for guiding the carriage in its vertical movement along the tower. Pivotally mounted between the opposed side plates ,33 of the carriage upon pintles 34 there is provided a bucket 35 adapted to retain a charge of moist concrete or the like therein. The details of the carriage and of the bucket are more particular- L ly illustrated in our co-pending application Serial No. 716,595 and nowPatent No. 2,481,266 granted September 6, 1949, filed concurrently herewith, but it is to be appreciated that other forms of carriage and bucket or the like may be substituted for the particular form illustrated.

The top central portion of the back wall of the carriage 39 includes a boss 35 to which is clamped one end of an elevator cable 31 which extends upwardly through the tower about a spaced pair of guide pulleys 38 and 39 on the tower and downwardly to cab-e winding mechanism (not shown) located in or on the truck and preferably being connectable at will to the engine driving the vehicle It by the operator thereof seated in the cab Winding of the cable causes elevation of the carriage and bucket and release thereof causes its descent under the'infiuence of gravity to the bottom of the tower.

The tower is provided with a hopper of any suitable configuration having a chute 41 at its lower end controllable by a gate 42. The hopper may be conveniently mounted upon the tower by means including mounting members 43 shiftable longitudinally of the front corner posts 22.

The lower end of the hopper is retained in its position of use by releasable means 44 and the upper end thereof is pivotally mounted upon pintles 45. Upon release of the means 44 the hopper may pivot about the pintles 45 so as to occupy a stowed position inside of the tower 20 so as to permit'travel of. the vehicle and tower along a road without having a portion thereof projecting high enough to engage bridges or other obstruction.

The bucket 35 is preferably so mounted, the pintles 34-being forwardly of the vertical center line thereof, that its weight and the weight of the material therein will cause it to rest in an upright position and the tower and bucket are preferably provided with cooperating cam means (not shown) the details being illustrated in our co-pending application Serial No. 716,695, filed concurrently herewith, so that the bucket will be automatically dumped upon elevation thereof to a dumping position with relation tothe hopper 45 and then will be automatically returned to upright position upon release of the cable 31. Of course, other means may be provided for dumping the bucket into the hopper, such means being immaterial to the present invention.

The present invention comprises means for loading concrete or the like into the bucket 35 '(not shown) 4 To this end each side of the tower is provided with a chute comprising a collecting portion 5| and a pivoted extension 52. The collecting portion 5| preferably comprises an outwardly flaring body having a rim 53 thereabout except at its lower, constricted end. As seen in Fig. 6 the lower end of the portion 5| ispivotally mounted upon a rod 54 mounted in pintle ears 55 and 56 carried by the upright posts 22 and 24 respectively, connection of the portion 5| to the rod 54 being through a plate 51 attached to the bottom surface ofthe portion 5| and terminating in a. rolled edge through which the rod 54 may pass. The portion 5| may be raised to lie closely against the side of the tower for traveling positionand may be pivotally swung to its position of use upon the release of suitable latching means The collecting portion 5| is retained in downwardly and inwardly inclined position by a retaining chain 58 attached to the rim 53 and to an upright portion of the tower.

The extension portion 52 comprises an openended trough having vertical sides 6|! adapted to embrace the restricted lower end of the flange '53 and a lower surface forming an extension of the bottom of the portion 5| when in position of use. The portion 52 is pivotally retained in position by the rod 54 which passes through openings in the walls 60. It may be swung to a substantially vertical position as illustrated in Fig. 5, or to a downwardly and inwardly inclined position as illustrated in Fig. 4, being retained in the latter position by a chain 6| extending from a wall 60 to an upright portion of the tower. When in position of use the extension 52 overlies the upper edge of the bucket 35 so that concrete or the like dumped into the collecting portion 5| will be directed into the bucket.

When the bucket is being raised from its lowermost position a cam shoe protruding from an end thereof engages a cam strap 65' extending from the bottom of the extension 52.v As soon as the extension has been raised partially toward the position illustrated in Fig. 5, by being lifted by the bucket 35, the shoe 65 will force thev extension to pass slightly beyond the position illustrated in Fig. 5 whereupon the shoe will rise above engagement with the strap 66. A cam strap 6'! mounted upon side wall 55 is so located as to engage the free end of a latchbar 58 pivoted at 69 upon the tower.. The strap 51 has a shoulder portion l'il adapted to assume a substantially vertical position when the extension is raised to the position of Fig. 5 and an end adapted to assume a substantially horizontal position as illustrated in Fig. 5. When the shoe 65 has swung the extension 52 far enough to clear the shoe the latchbar 68 will drop behind the shoulder H! to retain the extension 52 in its elevated, out-of-the-way position.

The latchbar 68 is attached to one end of a chain 15 extending vertically upward to the outer corner of a crank member 16 pivotally mounted at H at the upper end of the vertical post |5. The upper corner of the crank member 16 is attached to a pull rod '88 extending forward to a position adjacent the cab I! so that the operator of the vehicle or any other person able to reach the rod may pull forwardly thereon to raise the latchbar 68 from engagement with the shoulder 10. The extension 52 when in raised position is in unstable balance so that release of the latching members causes the extension to drop forward to its position of use as illustrated in Fig. Such action is to take place after the bucket has been returned to the bottom of the tower to receive a succeeding charge of material.

Having illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of our present invention it should be appreciated that modifications in detail and arrangement thereof may be readily achieved. All such modifications as come within the true spirit and scope of the appended claims are considered to be a part of our invention.

What we claim is:

1. An elevator bucket loading device com-prising a receiving chute, an extension pivoted at the lower end of said receiving chute and adapted to overlie the edge of the bucket when in operative position and to be swung into inoperative position upon engagement thereof by the bucket when the bucket is being elevated, means to latch said extension in inoperative position to permit return of the bucket comprising a latchbar and a cooperating latch member on said extension, said latch member comprising a cam surfaces operatively engaging said latchbar to raise said latchbar upon upward movement of said bucket and a shoulder behind which said latchbar may drop to hold said extension, and manual means to raise said latchbar from engagement with said latch member.

2. An elevator bucket loading device comprising a receiving chute, an extension pivoted at the lower end of said receiving chute and adapted to overlie the edge of the bucket when in operative position and to be swung into inoperative position upon engagement thereof by the bucket when the bucket is being elevated, means to latch said extension in inoperative position to permit return of the bucket comprising a latchbar and a cooperating latch member on said extension, said latch member comprising a cam surface operatively engaging said latchbar to raise said latchbar upon upward movement of said bucket and a shoulder behind which said latchbar may drop to hold said extension, a chain attached to said latchbar, and a manual lever for pulling on said chain.

3. An elevator bucket loading device comprising a receiving chute, an extension pivoted at the lower end of said receiving chute and adapted to overlie the edge of the bucket when in operative position and to be swung into inoperative position upon engagement thereof by the bucket when the bucket is being elevated, means to latch said extension in inoperative position to permit return of the bucket comprising a pivoted latchbar and a cooperating latch member on said extension, said latch member comprising a cam surface operatively engaging said latchbar to raise said latchbar upon upward movement of said bucket and a shoulder behind which said latchbar may drop to hold said extension, a chain 5' attached to said latchbar, and a means for pulling on said chain to lift said latchbar from behind said shoulder.

HAROLD A. WAGNER. GUSTAVE H. WAGNER.

REFERENCES CITE-2D The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,086,871 Taylor Feb. 10, 1914 1,105,131 Gledhill July 28, 1914 1,472,597 Jacobsen Oct. 30, 1923 1,558,121 Simpson Oct. 20, 1925 1,614,373 Lepley Jan. 11, 1927 1,628,314 Hale May 10, 1927 2,029,512 Strawn Feb. 4, 1936 2,357,583 Franco Sept. 5, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 234,275 Great Britain May 28, 1925 

